The Importance of Sensory Play

The Five Senses and You!

Something that is so fun about watching your little one grow up is getting to see their curiosity shine as they explore the world around them! You get a front row seat to all the ups and downs as they use their senses to learn more about the place they live, the foods they eat and more. However, this curiosity and use of senses is not only for fun; in fact, it’s key to your little one’s well-being that they are able to develop their senses.

All of our senses play a big part in making sure a child develops language and motor skills as well as developing better social skills and interactions. Now, a wonderful way to encourage this exploration is certainly to explore the world with your little one; however, with the health risks that can occur from being out and about too much, alternatives are needed, which is where sensory play comes in!

Sensory play offers up wonderful opportunities for your little one to learn and play simultaneously. They can explore their senses in a more controlled environment while retaining the freedom and curiosity unstructured play allows! By doing so, your little one will reap the benefits of improved cognitive skills and social skills, but studies also demonstrate that allowing your little one to use sensory play will also improve their own mental well-being in the long run! Sensory play can help children manage both stress and impulses on their own in addition to all of the other benefits mentioned.

So what exactly constitutes “sensory play”? Well, it can be a number of things! A good rule of thumb is to always try to incorporate a wide variety of textures or sensory experiences for your little one, depending on what senses you’re trying to encourage exploration for. For example, if you want your little one to have fun exploring touch, have some items for feeling that are different in size, shape and texture; you can include sand, easter grass or shredded paper, styrofoam peanuts and other fun (safe!) items. One of our favorite sensory play ideas is a sensory bin: this is a bin filled with age-appropriate textured items for your little one to feel and get a sense for.

After you’ve helped set your little one up to play, though, it’s important to continue encouraging them to put words to the items or feelings they have when they are developing those language skills! Try and use your words to help your little one learn descriptors (“smelly”, “soft”, “spikey”, etc), and state specific action words, such as “let’s mix the play dough!” when having fun together. We also always recommend encouraging your little one’s imagination; children have no trouble coming up with fun and elaborate stories, so really make storytelling that accompanies sensory play welcome!

All kinds of play are helpful for little ones to develop important skills that will help them learn in the future, but we really suggest giving sensory play a try! If your little one is enrolled in online learning of any kind, sensory play is an excellent break activity from the prolonged screentime of learning at home, and is almost always beneficial and fun.

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